Soooo.... rape. What a nice, uncontroversial subject. I don't see how this could end badly......

I like horror, a lot. Horror movies, horror games, horror novels, horror comics. It's my favourite genre. The single most important moment in my life as a connoisseur of fiction was watching Psycho at the tender age 12. My love of the genre waxes and wanes, but it never dies.
I've been meaning to get back into horror for a while so I've been looking at lists of popular horror novels to see what gems I might have missed. The one book that keeps on turning up is The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum....

Incase you don't know The Girl Next Door is a novel based on a true story about a girl who was. kidnapped, beaten tortured and malnourished to the point death. And the this fictionalised account embellishes/adds rape into the story (I'm not sure if it was involved in the true story). Sounds like a fun book (sarcasm).

The point here is that personally I don't think rape should be part horror stories. Horror is supposed to be scary. A horror story that isn't scar for me is as useful as a car with four flat tires. Rape isn't scary, or creepy, or spooky it's just really horrible. And if all a good horror story had to do was horrify you the most horror stories would be set in Auschwitz or Unit 731 (or maybe a primary school) and have no story at all. Good horror is scary, but fun, and nothing drains the fun out of a movie like a rape scene.
The other reason why I don't think rape and horror belong together is because it's trivialising the subject matter. Using it as shock fodder when really as a subject matter it deserves to be treated as more than just "entertainment". If your movie or book is trying to say something meaningful go ahead. But just having it there to be shocking is kinda offensive.
Its not like I don't like extreme horror. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of my favourite movies. But there are limits.

If I may site present, Look at the best horror games; Amnesia, Alien vs Predator, Resident Evil, System shock 2, Doom 3, Thief, Alone in the Dark. Would any of these games have been made better by long, gruesome rape scenes?
I'm sure someone is going to mention Silent Hill 2, to which I say rape is more of a sub-theme there than a spectacle. Even that game doesn't have you being raped by the enemies ( Fun fact, Half-life was going to have an enemy that raped you. can't imagine why they didn't go through with it....)



So those are my thoughts on rape in horror, I'm curious to see whether people agree or disagree with them Thanks for reading.

Answer: no.

Maybe you should discuss this with your psychiatrist and not on a public forum.

No. But in some cases, it can be scary. "In human centipede 2", that aberration, abomination, the protagonist, raped a teen girl while... Ah, i wouldn't like to spoil it, it boasts to be one of the most disgusting and ugly moments in movies. But was a pretty disgusting, maybe for others pretty scary too, thing. I couldn't have sex for an entire week after watching that movie.

So you are implying that I am mad for talking to people about what is or isn't expectable in fiction that is available to the public.... That escalated quickly. I guess all the people who talked about the "Rape scene" in the most recent Tomb Raider" game were all mad as well?

I'm not implying that you are mad, then a psychiatrist won't help anymore anyway, but this forum is also attended by people too young for that kind of movies, thanks for taking that into consideration when you made this thread.

As for the rumored rape scene in Tomb Raider, typical prerelease hype, I doubt they were going to shoot themselves in the foot by cutting out half of their customers for an Adult rating.

Well, the Horror genre has all kinds of sub-genres. Some stories ( films, games etc. ) are simply meant to scare you, others gross you out, and then others make you uncomfortable via ( subtle ) psychological Horror. Or sometimes it's a mix of all these things.

I don't think there should be taboos in art ( and that includes films, games or other forms of story-telling ). It's up to you, as the viewer, to decide what you enjoy watching and what kind of story you'd rather avoid.

It's also a matter of how the author or director handles a controversial theme such as rape. That is, whether it's only added for shock value ( and a cheap way for some extra media attention ) or whether it's a meaningful addition to the story and character development.

Yeah I agree with that, I think the topic title is very badly chosen (even more so because you* are a native english speaker alledgedly).

I won't go as far as Strijkbout, but I really think you* should reflect a little on what you consider to be entertainment.

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* by "you" I mean OP

What were you expecting? You said a bad no-no word. Shame on you! :P And that, dear children, is what we call "TMI".

Funny you'd mention a game based on H. R. Giger's work :-P No, the whole 'everybody should self-censor' approach is bullshit. As long as rape is part of society as we know it, as long as that issue is not going away, we need to use it in art. We need to keep it in everybody's attention, and we need to repeatedly show how horrible it is - in horror, in drama, anywhere it fits. The worst thing you can ever do is to sweep the entire issue under the rug and say "Yeah, it's triviliazing subject matter" - no, it's making the subject matter be seen and discussed. What do you think is the point of many works of art in the first place, people indulging in them without giving them a second thought?

Umm, what is "TMI"? What is that?? :O

On a site full of gamers from the 80's and 90's? I doubt it. I think most of the gamers here are 17+. I doubt many 10 year olds buy from GOG. And as this site (as far as I can see) Is fine selling games like Postal, Phantasmagora, Harvester and FEAR 2 to people of any age reading about this sort of thing on forums is tame by comparison.
And if someone below 17- is playing Wasteland or Plainscape I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are mature enough to read about adult topics.

This is a public issue so I will talk about it in public.

I'd explain, but it would probably be TMI.

I was trying to be neutral. I didn't want the title to be either in favour or against.

I think rape scenes belong to some... different genre than horror.

Rape in horror movies can easily induce Narm.